May hits back as governmnet fails to address local train

18 Jul 2006

The Government has refused to reply to specific concerns raised in writing by Theresa May MP regarding the rail service to Maidenhead and Twyford.

Theresa May wrote in March to the Department for Transport calling for a full reinstatement of all fast and semi-fast services that had been removed from the First Great Western draft December 2006 timetable.

The Department replied to Theresa on the 12th June. In response to their letter, Theresa May said:

‘Instead of getting a full response from the Department, I received a standard letter, pointing me in the direction of two announcements FGW had made in April and June. I was eager to read these announcements to see if our concerns had been fully addressed by the department. Unfortunately I was severely disappointed. Although April’s announcement proudly heralded the reinstatement of one service from Twyford to London Paddington, the July announcement appeared to be nothing to do with Maidenhead at all – it detailed additional services on the South Coast!

‘This is just a further example of how the Government has lost touch with the citizens of Maidenhead – after all, they should at least know we’re not on the South Coast!

‘Furthermore, the letter announces that, ‘many of the local services have been reinstated’. This is simply not true. One new train has been introduced and one has been reinstated.

‘They consider that this improvement ‘successfully balances competing demands’ for their service. This is again a falsehood. They will not satisfy the demands of the thousands of Maidenhead commuters until they reinstate all mainline fast and semi-fast services.’